For the past two weeks, we’ve been working our westward, and reviewing the best NBA players since 1980 from each of the six major NCAA conferences. Today, we reach the last leg of our NCAA tour, the PAC 10. Without having reviewed the rosters yet, we do know that UCLA and Arizona should have the most formidable line ups. Of course, may not be so simple. Let’s take a look and see how the PAC shakes out:
10. Washington State: PG: Craig Ehlo, SG: Don Collins, SF: Brian Quinnett, PF: Kyle Weaver, C: James Donaldson
9. Oregon: PG: Terrell Brandon, SG: Luke Ridnour, SF: Fred Jones, PF: Greg Ballard, C: Blair Rasmussen
8. Stanford: PG: Brevin Knight, SG: Landry Fields, SF: Josh Childress, PF: Adam Keefe, C: Brook Lopez
7. Arizona State: PG: Fat Lever, SG: Byron Scott, SF: James Harden, PF: Ike Austin, C: Alton Lister
6. Oregon State: PG: Gary Payton, SG: Brent Barry, SF: A.C. Green, PF: Lonnie Shelton, C: Steve Johnson
5. Washington: PG: Nate Robinson, SG: Brandon Roy, SF: Detlef Schrempf, PF: Spencer Hawes, C: James Edwards
4. USC: PG: Robert Pack, SG: Gus Williams, SF: O.J. Mayo, PF: Taj Gibson, C: Cliff Robinson
3. Cal: PG: Jason Kidd, SG: Kevin Johnson, SF: Lamond Murray, PF: Shareef Abdur-Rahim, C: Ryan Anderson
2. Arizona: PG: Mike Bibby, SG: Jason Terry, SF: Richard Jefferson, PF: Andre Iguodala, C: Bison Dele
1. UCLA: PG: Baron Davis, SG: Reggie Miller, SF: Kiki Vandeweghe, PF: Kevin Love, C: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
-What to say about Washington State? It’s a really bad sign when you are starting Brian Quinnett.
-Oregon isn’t bad per se but they are near the rear because they have no real two guard and they are forced to start Fred Jones at small forward. Without Brandon they would be pretty horrible though.
-Stanford has a decent squad but the holes are evident. Lopez is their best player in modern times and the rest is pretty tepid. Keefe at power forward was better than he looked. Without Fields, however, their two guard situation would be sad (Todd Lichti or Casey Jacobsen).
-Arizona State’s best backcourt is still their actual backcourt from the early 1980s. Lever was a very underrated player and we all remember Scott. They have some size too, though it’s not particularly skilled size.
-Oregon State hasn’t produced a new pro since 1999 (fringer Corey Benjamin). They only produced really two players in the 1990s (Payton and Barry) but they have enough for a solid starting five (if no bench).
-Washington is the team that I least expected to have a good pro team. I had forgotten they’ve spliced in a few very good players over the years, not to mention respectable pros like Eldridge Recasner, Todd MacCulloch and Steve Hawes. The team isn’t incredible but has an argument to pass USC on the list.
-That’s the other Cliff Robinson on USC, a nice scorer from the 1980s (not the head banded shooter on Portland). The backcourt is solid too but they don’t have a real power forward or center, as both Robinson and Gibson are really stretched as power forwards, let alone playing center but I refuse to put Brian Scalabrine at power forward. Paul Westphal might be the best USC player since Bill Sharman but he was done by the early 1980s.
-Cal has a very good team, with a great backcourt but also lack a true center. The options were Mark McNamara, Michael Stewart, or Francisco Elson so we took none of the above and settled on Anderson. But for the center, Cal can compete with any team in the conference.
-Arizona has been a factory of guards and small forwards. We had to leave some very good players off the roster too: Gilbert Arenas (too crazy, and too much of a chucker), Damon Stoudamire (good but not great), and Sean Elliott (kidney issues knocked down his numbers a little). We went with two small forwards up front because the power forward alternatives aren’t nearly as talented (Channing Frye?). A good power might put them ahead of UCLA.
-Even post-John Wooden, UCLA has a ton of pros. The difference with the glory years is that the Bruins don’t have a ton of stars since 1980. Obviously, Kareem’s twilight years were good enough to make it at center and Miller is a Hall of Famer. Of UCLA players post-1980 besides Miller, however, we don’t really see any potentially great players until Baron Davis (though that ship has sailed) and, more recently, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love.
Next time, we’ll aggregate our NCAA rankings and see who the best of the best is…